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Going Virtual

INetU supports virtualized managed environments on dedicated servers using Citrix XenServer. Citrix XenServer can benefit your organization in many ways, such as:

• Creating a safe testing environment
• Shortening the development lifecycle
• Simplifying migration
• Meeting security best-practices

Safe Testing Environment

IT developers often hesitate to test new software, patch existing software, or upgrade to the newest version of an OS or software. For example, many companies using Windows Server 2003 have not tested their environments in Server 2008. Virtualization provides a safe and cost-efficient method to try the new OS and see if it meets your business objectives.

Shorten the Development Lifecycle

With virtualization, development and staging environments can perfectly mimic production environments at a fraction of the cost. You can easily conform to development best-practices and significantly accelerate the process.

Simplify Migration

Citrix XenServer is an ideal platform for seamlessly migrating VMs from other environments.

• Citrix XenServer is compatible with similar technologies such as Microsoft's Hyper-V.
• You can convert other types of virtual machine files, such as VMware, to work with Citrix XenServer.

Migrating virtual servers from one physical server to another is simplified; files can be moved with effectively no downtime. So when a virtual machine outgrows the physical limitations of your hardware it's completely portable and ready to be moved to an upgraded machine.

Security Best-Practices

In a traditional environment, it can sometimes be more efficient to multi-task single servers, such as one server for both web and database; however, this is not a security best-practice (for example, credit card industry regulations, PCI, forbid this setting due to security concerns). Virtualization provides a cost-effective way to single-task server machines.

How INetU Can Help

Not only will we support each virtual machine with the same level of expertise and services offered on a physical server, but we will also manage the hypervisor responsible for building and maintaining virtual machines.

We are committed to putting you into the right solution for your organization's needs. That is why we will help you with capacity planning for your virtual servers, doing trend analyses, and making recommendations so that you are truly getting the most out of your physical hardware.

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